New here, please help me decide!

[ProfCrash]

OP: Most of the e-readers have a generous return policy. Buy the one you are most comfortable with and see if you like it. If you do, great. If you don't or you find that it is missing something you really want, then return it and buy the other e-reader.

Your thread has hit the point where the fans of one device are starting to emerge which is probably going to diminish the useful replies you are going to get. This tends to happen when the Nook, Kindle, Sony fans arrive and all they can do is tell you that their device is the bestest. You have gotten some good feedback from people who have both devices. Take that into consideration and go with the device that you feel has the features that are most important to you. Unfortuently, there is no one perfect device for most of us. The good news is that the return polcies are generous.

It sounds like your original preference was the Kindle. So buy the Kindle and use it. You have 30 days to return it to Amazon for a full refund.

I would not buy a Sony in its current form. I could careless about the touch screen and want the 3G connectivity. I have had a K1 for 2 1/2 years and it is still working nicely. It is not a "cheap" device. It is built to last and many folks can attest to this. I did buy a DXG because I wanted the larger screen size and am happily using it on a daily basis.

There are also many threads about people switching from Sony to Kindle for a variety of reason.

And there are plenty of folks in the touchscreen thread that have posted "No way in hell" jacking up the page count by clearly stating they don't want a touch screen reader.

My point: Many of us have a bias. There are plenty of ways to take posts and topics and stats to make them say what a poster wants them to say.

There are many e-readers out there filling many different needs. If a touchscreen and EPub is really important to you then the Sony is a great way to go. It is a quality product that works well and has the features that you want.

If you want something with Wireless connectivity and are ona tighter budget the Nook is a solid EPub reader that will serve you well.

If you think that you are not going to use the library a lot, I would go with a Kindle. The battery life is great, there are many bookstores that sell Mobi formated books that can be read on the Kindle, Customer Service is excellent, and it has better support for note taking and using a dictionary then the Nook.

My guess is that you would be happy with any of the three.

[Zarich]

The vehement hate for the keyboard surprises me. I like it. But I also like the touchscreen on the sony. If the sony were more competitively priced and they had a more robust bookstore I would recommend them to more people. But the keyboard for doing searches is insanely fast in comparison to the touchscreen of the nook. Plus simply changing between books is much faster with the archaic keyboard. BTW if keyboards were so horrid blackberries and other massive texting devices would not have them.

If the nook had a color other than white super gloss and the expandable card actually allowed you to expand book storage I would probably jump at the nook.

If amazon ever offered epub the war would be over. Let's face it the kindle is the way it is because it is the simplest, most efficient e-reader available. That is why it outsells everything out there.

BTW the best of the bunch is the NC. If I could have read well on that it would easily be my keeper.

But I am with you in this thing.. I want an e-reader and have non. I returned my kindle and NC and regret not having anything now.

BTW on book availability, I have been watching the free threads and am constantly surprised how many amazon has on a daily basis. However, many are crap. But still.

[ProfCrash]

The Nook Color is great if you want an LCD screen and are willing to root it. I don't want an LCD screen and I don't think I should have to root the silly thing in order to use it to its fullest capability. IfI was seriously thinking about a Nook Color, I would look at an Android tablet and get a device that I don't have to root to use fully and be able to read e-books using any one of a number of apps.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The Nook Color is great if you want an LCD screen and are willing to root it. I don't want an LCD screen and I don't think I should have to root the silly thing in order to use it to its fullest capability. IfI was seriously thinking about a Nook Color, I would look at an Android tablet and get a device that I don't have to root to use fully and be able to read e-books using any one of a number of apps.

Agree!

I understand why some people want to get more "bang for their bucks" but my time is priceless. Even though I have the skills and knowledge, getting something that works out of the box and has on-going support, it is more important to me.

One of the reasons why I want to sell my dual boot (Android and Windows) HTC cellphone and get one which runs Froyo out of the box. Too busy to keep fine tuning my cellphone just to run Froyo properly.

[covingtoncat73]

I got a Kobo yesterday and am pretty happy with it, especially since I only paid $69.99 for it. If you have a Borders going out of business near you, go get one. It is small, which I don't mind at all, and has no touch screen, which I can live without. I love the "papery" look of the eInk screen and it supports ePub. It doesn't do audio but I guess that is what I have an iPod for. I successfully got free Gutenberg eBooks, got a loaner eBook from the library, and bought a .99 eBook from Smashwords and got it on the device.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by Zarich

The vehement hate for the keyboard surprises me. I like it. But I also like the touchscreen on the sony. If the sony were more competitively priced and they had a more robust bookstore I would recommend them to more people. But the keyboard for doing searches is insanely fast in comparison to the touchscreen of the nook. Plus simply changing between books is much faster with the archaic keyboard. BTW if keyboards were so horrid blackberries and other massive texting devices would not have them.

If amazon ever offered epub the war would be over. Let's face it the kindle is the way it is because it is the simplest, most efficient e-reader available. That is why it outsells everything out there.

I would never buy that KeyboardKindle because I want an ereader and no typewriter. It's as easy as this.

This argument about the phones is just silly. The fact that people buy blackberries with keyboards is due to people actually writing texts on them = SMS. I have to hear of one who writes a book on an ereader.

The Sony is competitively priced regarding the fact that no other company has its touchscreen technology (IR) and it is solidly built. Meaning when you are the only one to have a feature you can charge for it whatever you want.

And the Sony bookstore might not be the most up-to-date in design but has everything I ever looked for, for the same price as Amazon. I very often compare them as there is a lot of saying here the Sony store is crap. Maybe they once were more expensive, this I don't know, but for the last three month the charge the same as everyone else does. They offer the same books for free and the download via Sony RL is very easy and fast.

[doreenjoy]

I've recently decided to sell my other ereaders (Currently Kindle DX and Bookkeen Opus) and stick with the Sony 350. Here are my reasons in case they help you:

1. I really do read a lot of library books. I have memberships at my local library, the San Francisco library, the Philadelphia Free Library ($15 a year for those outside the system) so there are very few times I have to buy an ebook.

2. I like the form factor and the design. It's much more portable than the Kindle DX -- those extra inches for the keyboard make a difference for me.

3. I like the simplicity of a touch screen. Being able to double tap a word to look it up is much easier for me than navigatig a cursor to a word.

[Zarich]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

I would never buy that KeyboardKindle because I want an ereader and no typewriter. It's as easy as this.

This argument about the phones is just silly. The fact that people buy blackberries with keyboards is due to people actually writing texts on them = SMS. I have to hear of one who writes a book on an ereader.

The Sony is competitively priced regarding the fact that no other company has its touchscreen technology (IR) and it is solidly built. Meaning when you are the only one to have a feature you can charge for it whatever you want.

And the Sony bookstore might not be the most up-to-date in design but has everything I ever looked for, for the same price as Amazon. I very often compare them as there is a lot of saying here the Sony store is crap. Maybe they once were more expensive, this I don't know, but for the last three month the charge the same as everyone else does. They offer the same books for free and the download via Sony RL is very easy and fast.

I guess that is true. People don't use the kindle keyboard a lot so it isn't a fair comparison. But I really liked it compared to the touch screen on the sony for typing in words because I felt the touch screen keyboard was very slow.

Also build quality is only comparable when a report of defect and repair is released. You may feel the build quality of the sony is better, but it is only better if the kindle is being repaired more often. Since the kindle is more sold then that would have to be a % comparison.

I also do not find the sony competively priced at all. It has no wireless access, but does have a touchscreen. Sounds like a trade off to me. I suspect if sony really wants a piece of this market their price will adjust accordingly.

Their prices may be similar, but their book selection is far from as robust. Amazon blows everyone away here regardless. Sony can buy books from more places, but many don't want that hassle.

[Dre180]

I can't thank you guys enough, i truly appreciate all your input and help. I went to Best Buy today to give all three a final test. Just like the first time i walked out - i came away most impressed with the Kindle...

I wanted to like the nook, i really did. And there are certainly aspects i do love about it, but i just felt performance wise it wasn't on par with the other two products.

The sony was nice, (they had the 950 and the 350 which were both really nice, but for some reason don't carry the 650?), however i wasn't overly happy with the font sizes they offer (i know this can be hacked). I felt the medium to be a drop to small and the large too big. I could live with it, but the kindle just felt more natural to me. i also found the titles to open slower than those on the Kindle, which I also liked a bit better in my hands.

I truly think all 3 products are very good overall, and all offer unique benefits. Each person is going to have a different reason as to why they love one and not the others. Ultimately, the Kindle as an overall package just felt better for me personally. I feel it is more fluid than the others and has the "just works well" factor that i'm used to getting from my apple products. Lack of Epub is certainly disappointing, but the other positives still make it a worthwhile purchase to me. I will sleep on it and make my purchase tomorrow. Hopefully i won't wake up with a changed mind, because i just want to own one already, and quite frankly i'm tired of researching!! I'm sure many of you are going to hate my decision, or say that i'm going to the "dark side" but it is what it is, i suppose.

So again, thank you all for the great advice in helping me make my decision. i am glad i found this forum, it is terrific and i look forward to chatting with you going forward

[Zarich]

You bring up a good point.. where do you even buy the 650. I have wanted to try one too (have tried the 350 and 950), but nobody sells them and they are always out of stock at sony style.

[jbcohen]

Prof Crash is right everyone you meet in these forums are going to think that their reader is the best of all. I have tried to be a little objective as i have gone through and talked with owners of several different readers and here is what owners have told me. Which is the best for you depends on what is most important to you in a reader:

Do you for see yourself buying oddball books that can't be found in most electronic book stores - then buy a Kindle, lets' face it Amazon has everything;
You want color screens - buy a Nook or a Libra Pro color
Want foreign langue dictionaries - buy a Sony PRS
Need to read foreign language books buy a bookeen
Want to pay less - buy a Kobo
Need to be able to read every format out there - buy a Etaco Jet Book Lite
Do you have a smart phone and want to read on that and pay $0 for a reader - Download and install several different reader software.

As you can see it depends on what's important to you.

I have a libra Pro but its not the best if you want to read foreign language books, want touch screen - forget it my Libra pro is not a candidate. I bought one because I wanted to pay approximately $100 and the Libra Pro was the only one willing to sell for that.

[jocampo]

Dre,
Please let us know. And hopefully you will be able to enjoy an ereader soon.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Dre180

I can't thank you guys enough, i truly appreciate all your input and help. I went to Best Buy today to give all three a final test. Just like the first time i walked out - i came away most impressed with the Kindle...

I wanted to like the nook, i really did. And there are certainly aspects i do love about it, but i just felt performance wise it wasn't on par with the other two products.

The sony was nice, (they had the 950 and the 350 which were both really nice, but for some reason don't carry the 650?), however i wasn't overly happy with the font sizes they offer (i know this can be hacked). I felt the medium to be a drop to small and the large too big. I could live with it, but the kindle just felt more natural to me. i also found the titles to open slower than those on the Kindle, which I also liked a bit better in my hands.

I truly think all 3 products are very good overall, and all offer unique benefits. Each person is going to have a different reason as to why they love one and not the others. Ultimately, the Kindle as an overall package just felt better for me personally. I feel it is more fluid than the others and has the "just works well" factor that i'm used to getting from my apple products. Lack of Epub is certainly disappointing, but the other positives still make it a worthwhile purchase to me. I will sleep on it and make my purchase tomorrow. Hopefully i won't wake up with a changed mind, because i just want to own one already, and quite frankly i'm tired of researching!! I'm sure many of you are going to hate my decision, or say that i'm going to the "dark side" but it is what it is, i suppose.

So again, thank you all for the great advice in helping me make my decision. i am glad i found this forum, it is terrific and i look forward to chatting with you going forward

Enjoy!

[brianwithcheese]

I have an IPad, and I have to confess that the built-in e-reader, while not actually BAD, would benefit from a simpler interface. The page turning action is cutesy but not exactly efficient.

Would anywhere here say that the Kindle program for the IPad works better?

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by brianwithcheese

I have an IPad, and I have to confess that the built-in e-reader, while not actually BAD, would benefit from a simpler interface. The page turning action is cutesy but not exactly efficient.

Would anywhere here say that the Kindle program for the IPad works better?

Actually, I think iBooks is faster than Kindle for iOS. But ipad2 is certainly faster when using any of those; the new CPU helps on that aspect. Page turning is smoother in my opinion.

The page animation is one of the things I like from iBooks besides the TOC layout and dictionary. Would be nice if you can turn the animation off though and leave that to the user. I agree on that.